


Wash

by sartiebodyshots



Series: Happily Ever Before [7]
Category: Falling Skies
Genre: F/M, Gen, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-03-19
Packaged: 2018-03-18 14:06:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3572429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sartiebodyshots/pseuds/sartiebodyshots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a big mud fight, and then the clean up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wash

            “It’s starting to get dark,” Tom says, arm wrapped around Rebecca.  “We should probably gather the boys up.”

            They’re watching them play around in the mud together.  The three of them had been playing whiffle ball, but, predictably, Matt had found the biggest mud patch in the yard and proceeded to abandon the game to splash around in the mud.  Hal and Ben had immediately followed suit, Hal dragging a semi-hesitant Ben along while Tom and Rebecca watched from the patio. 

            “I’ll get the hose if you get the children,” Rebecca says, kissing his cheek and getting up before Tom can retort that she’s definitely getting the easier end of that deal.

            Tom stands up and jogs over to the mud pit that used to be part of their yard.  “Okay boys, it’s time for-“ He loses his footing and slides to the ground in a muddy heap.  Crap.

            The three of them are laughing at him and as he struggles to sit up, a glob of mud comes flying and lands right on his chest.  There’s silence as Hal and Matt look at Ben in shock.  He’s shrugging sheepishly, a nervous but excited smile stretching across his face.  Tom can’t find it in himself to be even a little mad.

            “Et tu, Ben?” Tom quips before scooping up a handful of mud to fling back at him. 

            Ben grins and ducks before tackling Tom properly, and before he knows it, he’s covered in mud and squirming children. 

            “Ahem,” Rebecca’s voice drifts up from above them and Tom looks up into her grinning face.  “Is this what you meant by gathering the boys up?”

            “Ben threw mud at me.  Things got serious,” Tom says, wide eyed and innocent.

            “Ben?” Rebecca says, raising an eyebrow.

            “It’s true!” Matt chimes in. 

            Rebecca delicately bends down and scoops up some mud and throws it at Ben.  It lands with a splat.

            Tom grins and tugs on her ankle to get her to slip and fall down with them.  She overcompensates and ends up landing almost right on top of him. 

            “I defend you against your son, and this is how you thank me?  You’re a terrible man, Tom Mason.” Rebecca says with mock outrage before smearing her muddy hand against his cheek.  He can’t imagine it makes much of a difference. 

            “Pile on Mom!” Matt calls out before tackling her. 

            Before long, Tom is under a pile of squirming children and his wife.  All in all, it’s not the worst place to be, except Hal’s elbow is right in his diaphragm and he can’t breathe.

            “Okay boys,” Rebecca says.  “It’s time to get cleaned up before you crush your father.”

            There’s the expected amount of groaning and complaining, but they get up.  Matt immediately makes a beeline for the house and Tom only barely manages to snatch him up before he gets inside. 

            “Nice catch,” Rebecca says as he hauls Matt over to the patio. 

            “We need to get a leash,” Tom replies, setting Matt on his feet. 

            “Now, as soon as I spray you, right up to the bathroom to take an actual bath.  _No_ detours,” Rebecca says sternly, shaking a finger at each of them in turn, including Tom.

            She sprays Tom off first, taking more than a little too much delight in it, in Tom’s opinion. 

            Then she sprays off Ben and Matt.  Ben goes right off to shower in the common bathroom while Tom hauls Matt up to his and Rebecca’s master bathroom.  Tom carries him since he doesn’t trust him not to run off on the way. 

            “I don’t have my rubber duck in here,” Matt complains as Tom fills the bathtub up. 

            “It’ll be a quick bath, I promise,” Tom says.  “Now, get in.”

            “I bathed yesterday,” Matt says petulantly. 

            “And then you rolled around in the mud today,” Tom says before nodding at the tub.  “Get in.” 

            Matt sighs at him but strips off his clothes and gets in the tub.  Tom scrubs him as well as he can, what with all the squirming. 

            “We should play in the mud more.  Maybe have a mud house,” Matt says.

            Tom laughs.  “I’m sure that we’ll play out in the mud sometime again.  I think we’ll keep the house, though.”

            “That’s okay I guess.”

            When Matt is clean, Tom helps him out of the tub and wraps him in a towel.  He’s so tiny he almost gets lost in the towel.  “Go put your PJs on and get ready for bed.” 

            “Can I have a snack?”

            “Yeah, ask Ben to get you something,” Tom says, sending him on his way. 

            Rebecca and Hal are wrestling in the mud again when Tom comes back outside.  It’s too much to resist; he grabs the hose and sprays them both by surprise. 

            “Hey!” Hal yells while Rebecca gives him a look that lets Tom know he’s gonna pay for this later.  It makes him shiver, just a little. 

            “You guys need to get cleaned off.  Ben and Matt are both cleaned up,” Tom says innocently.  “The showers are both open.”

            They glare at him, but get to their feet anyway and let Tom spray them off.  He can see why Rebecca was enjoying this so much. 

            “You shower quickly, now,” Tom says to Hal after they’re both mostly de-mudded. 

            Tom and Rebecca head to their shower, stripping off their clothes handily.  They squeeze themselves into their shower.

            “We need to get a bigger shower,” Tom says, trying not to slip.

            “No way,” Rebecca says, leaning past him to adjust the temperature of the shower.  “If you’re thinking we’re ever going to start showering together, you’ve gotta take colder showers.  I love you, but not enough to steam myself to death.  This is a special exception.”

            “If I come down with pneumonia, you know who’s to blame,” Tom says as the shower turns painfully cold. 

            “I’m going to collect that insurance money, baby,” Rebecca says, squirting some shampoo in the palm of her hand and starting to wash his hair.  “Get a nice big shower, big bathtub, all full of nicely crisp cold water.” 

            “I see how it is,” Tom says, grabbing a washcloth to start washing the mud off of his wife’s face.  “But I like to think I’m a better long term investment than that.  Keep me alive and I’ll keep bringing home money.” 

            Rebecca laughs and turns around.  Tom takes the hint and gets some shampoo of his own.  God, he loves running his fingers through her hair. He’s not entirely sure how she gets her hair so soft; they use the same shampoo.  Magic, possibly. 

            “You’re in the history department, dear.  It’s probably about even.  If I get a bigger lump sum now, I can invest it and we’ll be alright,” Rebecca says lightly. 

            It’s true- the history professors don’t make as much money as the math professors.  She’s the one bringing home all the bacon.  And balancing the books, so she’s probably right. 

            “Hey, there’s gotta be some benefit to me not dying of pneumonia,” Tom says.  He carefully rinses out her hair.

            “I might miss you, eventually,” Rebecca concedes.  “And I don’t fancy having to get all three boys going every day by myself.”

            “Glad I’m not a total drain on the family,” Tom says, kissing her lightly.

            “Not yet,” Rebecca teases. 

            They finish washing each other quickly before getting out of the shower and throwing their pajamas on. 

            The boys are in the living room.  Matt’s dozed off, half a granola bar in hand, and Ben looks almost ready to fall asleep, too. 

            “Time for bed,” Rebecca says, and their youngest boys barely stir. 

            Rebecca lifts up Matt easily and heads down the hall, Hal following behind.  Tom kneels next to Ben.

            “Come on, Ben.  Time for bed,” Tom says.

            Ben shakes his head sleepily.  “Sleep here.”

            Tom chuckles.  “You’ve got to sleep in your bed.” 

            He gets to his feet and takes a deep breath before bending down and picking Ben up.  He’s heavy, probably too heavy, but Tom can make it to Ben’s room, at least.  It’s a strain on his back, but when Ben snuggles a little closer, it’s worth it. 

            Tom gently lays Ben out on his bed.  It takes a second to get Ben to let go of his shirt.  Even though Tom knows that Ben will push them off later, Tom pulls the covers up to keep him warm.  He leans down and kisses Ben’s forehead. 

            “Goodnight, Ben.  I love you.”

            “’night, Dad.  Love you.”

            Tom gets up, smiling softly to himself, and runs a gentle hand through Ben’s hair before leaving. 

            Rebecca is coming down the hall towards him. 

            “It’s so much easier to put Matt to bed when he’s already asleep,” she says, miming wiping sweat from her brow. 

            “I bet,” Tom says. 

            She heaves a deep sigh.  “Time to clean up.”

            “If you gather up the laundry, I’ll wipe up the floors.  The bathtubs can wait until tomorrow,” Tom offers. 

            “Sounds good.  Don’t forget to check the walls.  I’m sure one of them bumped into a wall at some point,” Rebecca says.

            Tom nods and they get to work.  He scrubs the floors and, sure enough, Rebecca had been right.  There is a large, smudged spot of mud on the wall between the door and the common bathroom.  He sighs and wipes it off, trying not to damage the wallpaper too much in the process. 

            When everything is clean, he tosses the paper towels away and instinctively heads to the living room.  Rebecca is curled up on the couch under one of their big fluffy blankets.  Tom takes a second to admire her and then perches on the couch cushion next to her.

            “Any room in there for one more?” Tom asks. 

            Rebecca makes room and Tom sneaks in, resting his head against her shoulder as she wraps her arms around him.  It’s so nice and warm, even if they’re both still damp from that frigid shower. 

            Tom scoots up so he can kiss her softly.  She cups his cheek with her hand, stroking his face tender.  They keep trading gentle kisses and Tom loves this close intimacy he has with Rebecca.

            After a while, Tom yawns on accident, mouth stretching wide as he’s supposed to be leaning in for another kiss. 

            “Sorry,” he apologizes, giggling a little. 

            “You should go to bed.  I can put the laundry in the dryer by myself,” Rebecca says, resting her forehead against his.  “I know you have an early class tomorrow.”

            It’s true- he has a eight thirty class the next day, but he doesn’t like the idea of leaving Rebecca down here to do the laundry by herself while he goes upstairs to sleep by himself.  The bed is always too cold without her. 

            “And leave you down here to plot my demise all by yourself?  I don’t think so,” Tom says, leaning up to kiss her again.

            “Smart man,” Rebecca says.

            Her lips are soft as they brush over his.  She kisses his cheeks and the tip of his nose before returning back to his lips.  Tom is too wrapped up in Rebecca to notice when the washer goes off until she gets up, leaving the blanket behind. 

            Tom keeps it wrapped around himself and follows her into the living room.  He’s still tired and trying to stifle his yawn as he watches her load the wash into the dryer. 

            She catches sight of him and raises an eyebrow.  “Are you cold?”

            “You did try to turn me into a popsicle earlier,” Tom points out.

            “I’ll warm you up later.  Promise,” Rebecca says, smirking at him before going back to the laundry.

            Rebecca pulls him by the hand to their room and nudges him gently into bed.  She grabs her hairbrush and turns off the light before settling on her half of the bed.  Tom watches in the moonlight as she brushes her hair like she does every night.  Maybe that’s why her hair is so soft. 

            “You’re supposed to be going to sleep,” Rebecca murmurs, looking down at him. 

            Tom just makes a vague noise in the back of his throat.  He’s too half asleep to make any kind of coherent noise. 

            Rebecca sets her hairbrush aside.  She gets under the covers with him and then presses herself against him. 

            “I love you, Tom Mason,” Rebecca says gently.  “I hope you’re feeling warm enough now.”

            “Love you,” Tom thinks he manages to say. 


End file.
